Dhaka, Nov 13 (bdnews24.com) – The selectors on Thursday picked the same 15-man squad that played the one-day internationals and Twenty20 for the two Tests series against hosts South Africa.

The unchanged squad means opener Imrul Kayes, who averaged just nine in three ODIs, is the only new face.

The 21-year-old, however, has scored two hundreds and four fifties at an average of 33.26 in 31 first class innings.

Middle-order batsman Rajin Saleh, who featured in the two-Test series against New Zealand at home last month, has been dropped while pacer Nazmul Hossain, who played a lone Test against South African in 2004, returned to the fold.

Bangladesh, who lost both one-dayers before the third and final ties was washed out, will play their only two-day warm-up match from Nov. 15.

The first Test begins on Nov. 19 at Outsurance Oval, Bloemfontein while the second and final test will starts at SuperSport Park, Centurion from Nov 26.

Originally Posted by al Furqaan
only if that replacement is sajidul islam. sajid should perhaps have been persisted with longer, but then again his FC bowling since his Test debut has not been that great.

It may be because our curators have not produced a good seaming pitch since the time that you are talking about.

Originally Posted by Mahmood
Now the selectors are showing their true colors, anyone can play test, there is no thinking behind the selections they make.

This was clear in Bhag mama's (Chief selector) comment after the exodus. He was missing the T20 players for BD test team. Remember his comments were like we are doomed, BD cricket is doomed while the boys came back from Australia.

I have one question. Why they did not declare that the team is for test also in the first place? for the sake of Bangladesh the selectors should be booted out as fast as possible. We need experinced players in test. That means no Robin, no Imrul even no Nayeem. Instead they should send Tusher ( He is a proven loser, but at least he is reguler no 3), Nafees Iqbal, Sajid

__________________
Twenty20 is not a gentleman's game. It's like a one-night stand and not a marriage. It is a street format and the goonda doesn't know what is a late cut or a cover drive

Originally Posted by thebest
I have one question. Why they did not declare that the team is for test also in the first place? for the sake of Bangladesh the selectors should be booted out as fast as possible. We need experinced players in test. That means no Robin, no Imrul even no Nayeem. Instead they should send Tusher ( He is a proven loser, but at least he is reguler no 3), Nafees Iqbal, Sajid

Agreed. I wouldn't pick Nafees as he hasn't done enough at home recently, but I probably wouldn't mind having Sajed in the squad if not the main XI and Tushar coming in one down. Mahbub, Imrul and Nayeem shouldn't even have been called up to the test team for another couple of years.

Originally Posted by thebest
We need experinced players in test. That means no Robin, no Imrul even no Nayeem. Instead they should send Tusher ( He is a proven loser, but at least he is reguler no 3), Nafees Iqbal, Sajid

Tushar a regular #3?! He played at #4/5 for most part of his career. As you said, he is a proven loser, and we now have much better choices in the middle order.

Nafees Iqbal did score a century in this NCL, but he remained very inconsistent for the rest of the tournament. It would be another fickle minded decision to call him for a Test series in SA based on a century on a docile Chittagong pitch.

Razzak's absence in the first Test makes Naeem's presence in the team even more important.

Robin has worked hard in domestic leagues and for the academy to establish himself as the next pacer to be groomed in the national team. As I said before, Sajidul should have been in the team, but not at Robin's expense, but at Nazmul's (who is clearly not a test material).

All in all, I have to say some members here are making more fickle minded choices than our selectors did.

It's a good decision. The bench back here is not better than the players at SAF. I find it very smart by the selectors not to pick Razin for Tests this time. He is 100% not fit for SAF's fast and bouncy soil.

sajidul, rubel hossain (don't even know what's going on with him) and subashis would all be better choices over nazmul for tests, probably a couple of others in BD would be better as well. but i'm glad they're sticking with players like naeem, robin and imrul.

rubel is a banned ICLer...it was a poor move on his part. everyone else is understandable if not condonable.

to be honest, the only mistakes the selectors made was including nazmul. but this is a part of the original mistake. they already went to bring one team, and so there is no point in sending nazmul back if they aren't going to bring sajid.

the main problem with this is panel is that they had their revolving door for the 3rd (now 4th pacer spot). first it was sajid, then dollar, and now nazmul and robin. sajid should have been persisted with.

Originally Posted by al Furqaan
rubel is a banned ICLer...it was a poor move on his part. everyone else is understandable if not condonable.

to be honest, the only mistakes the selectors made was including nazmul. but this is a part of the original mistake. they already went to bring one team, and so there is no point in sending nazmul back if they aren't going to bring sajid.

the main problem with this is panel is that they had their revolving door for the 3rd (now 4th pacer spot). first it was sajid, then dollar, and now nazmul and robin. sajid should have been persisted with.

is it confirmed that rubel went to the ICL? MH rubel went but last i heard no one knew for sure what was up with rubel hossain. just to be clear i wasn't saying players like subashis should have been taken to RSA but they would be better choices than nazmul.

agree that they should have stuck with sajidul more, not fussed about robin because imo he earned his place in the national squad. at this point the pacer options should be mash, rasel, shahadat, robin and sajidul. keep players like subashis, dollar etc on the sidelines developing for awhile longer, though i have to say if subashis keeps doing what he's doing it wouldn't be surprising to see him pop up in some national squads soon.

Does Rafique know what it takes to be a test player? What is his first-class record?

For starters, Imrul Kayes is better for longer version than Tusher/Jahirul/Nafees/Rajin? He can handle Morkel/Styen better? Saqib is a better longer version bowler than Enamul? Its at a point that selection is just a slam dunk... there is no thought about strategy, no analysis of who has the temperment... its about easy way out... pick the same team and do the same old!!